Obama and McCain War over Terror Policy, Oil
Source: Al-Manar TV, 18-06-2008
Barack Obama and his Republican White House rival John McCain traded barbs Tuesday over how to fight 'terrorism' after the Democrat called for 'suspected extremists' to be tried in the courts. The McCain camp said Obama showed a preference for a legal approach instead of fighting militants on the battlefield that betrayed a "September 10 mindset" that had been rendered obsolete forever by the September 11 attacks of 2001.
Obama backers shot back that McCain was recycling the ominous rhetoric of President George W. Bush's "war on terror" which had left the United States bereft of allies, embroiled in Iraq and facing new threats in Afghanistan. Parallel clashes broke out over a call by McCain for the federal government to scrap its 27-year-old moratorium on offshore oil drilling, as the Republican tapped into voters' anxiety about sky-high fuel prices.
The Arizona senator's demand, in a speech in the Texas oil capital of Houston, was mocked by Obama as "political posturing" that would do nothing to cut gasoline prices and might do much to ruin the coastal environment. In an interview with ABC News late Monday, Obama noted that the militants behind the first bomb attack on the World Trade Center in 1993 were brought to civilian justice and are now behind bars.
Under the Bush administration's policies since 9/11, "not only have we never actually put many of these folks on trial, but we have destroyed our credibility when it comes to rule of law all around the world," Obama said. The policies had "given a huge boost to terrorist recruitment in countries that say, 'Look, this is how the United States treats Muslims'," he said.
That triggered a fiery new argument to follow an Obama-McCain dispute from last week, when the Supreme Court ruled detainees at the Guantanamo military base have a right to challenge their detention in US courts. Portraying the Illinois senator as soft on terror, McCain's chief foreign policy adviser Randy Scheunemann said "once again we have seen that Obama is a perfect manifestation of a September 10 mindset."
McCain had a slight edge in international affairs and terrorism, but Obama had a 16-point lead as the best candidate for the faltering economy. The candidates were virtually tied on which was more trusted to handle Iraq, which Obama intends to visit before the November election.
Barack Obama and his Republican White House rival John McCain traded barbs Tuesday over how to fight 'terrorism' after the Democrat called for 'suspected extremists' to be tried in the courts. The McCain camp said Obama showed a preference for a legal approach instead of fighting militants on the battlefield that betrayed a "September 10 mindset" that had been rendered obsolete forever by the September 11 attacks of 2001.
Obama backers shot back that McCain was recycling the ominous rhetoric of President George W. Bush's "war on terror" which had left the United States bereft of allies, embroiled in Iraq and facing new threats in Afghanistan. Parallel clashes broke out over a call by McCain for the federal government to scrap its 27-year-old moratorium on offshore oil drilling, as the Republican tapped into voters' anxiety about sky-high fuel prices.
The Arizona senator's demand, in a speech in the Texas oil capital of Houston, was mocked by Obama as "political posturing" that would do nothing to cut gasoline prices and might do much to ruin the coastal environment. In an interview with ABC News late Monday, Obama noted that the militants behind the first bomb attack on the World Trade Center in 1993 were brought to civilian justice and are now behind bars.
Under the Bush administration's policies since 9/11, "not only have we never actually put many of these folks on trial, but we have destroyed our credibility when it comes to rule of law all around the world," Obama said. The policies had "given a huge boost to terrorist recruitment in countries that say, 'Look, this is how the United States treats Muslims'," he said.
That triggered a fiery new argument to follow an Obama-McCain dispute from last week, when the Supreme Court ruled detainees at the Guantanamo military base have a right to challenge their detention in US courts. Portraying the Illinois senator as soft on terror, McCain's chief foreign policy adviser Randy Scheunemann said "once again we have seen that Obama is a perfect manifestation of a September 10 mindset."
McCain had a slight edge in international affairs and terrorism, but Obama had a 16-point lead as the best candidate for the faltering economy. The candidates were virtually tied on which was more trusted to handle Iraq, which Obama intends to visit before the November election.
- Related News
